Flexible mechanical recorder



Feb. 5, 1957 H. J. FLARR FLEXIBLE MECHANICAL RECORDER 2 Sheets-Sheet lFiled Feb. 25. 1954 Feb. 5, 1957 H. J. FLAIR FLEXIBLE MECHANICALRECORDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. .'23e 1954 m/ c/ mw United StatesFLEXIBLE MECHANECAL RECRDER Henry J. Flair, Chicago, Iii., assigner toIllinois 'Io-oi Works, Chicago, EL, a corporation or The presentinvention relates to a novel recording apparatus for gear checkingmachines and, more particularly, to a novel recording apparatus forhandrolling gear checking or measuring machines.

There are at present a considerable number of handrolling gear measuringor checking machines in use. Various forms of these machines are wellknown and usually include a base, a mandrel for supporting a mastergear, means for supporting a work piece for meshing engagement with themaster gear, and hand operated means for rolling the gears together. Inaddition, the master gear is usually mounted on a spring biased slide sothat any irregularities in the work piece cause the master gear and itsslide to move and this movement is indicated by a dial of well knownconstruction. in general, these handrolling measuring machines arevaluable for many checking operations. However, there are many otheroperations that require a permanent record of the results. Furthermore,the handrolling operation is often relatively slow and, thereforeuneccnomical. For these and other reasons, the handroiling gearmeasuring machines now in use are not always satisfactory for aparticular job and it is an object of the present invention to increasethe usefulness of such measuring machines now in use by providing anovel attachment whereby the handrolling machines may be converted intoautomatic 40 machines capable of recording the results of the measuringor testing operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel attachmentof the type described above which is of relatively simple and economicalconstruction and which may be readily applied to or removed fromhandrolling gear checking machines presently in use.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novelattachment of the type described above which is compact and rugged andwhich is capable of accurately recording results of a testing operation.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description and accompanying drawingswherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an attachment embodying the principlesof this invention applied to a handrolling gear measuring machine;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View of the mechanical recorderdevice shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line in Fig. 4;and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary plan View partially broken away toillustrate certain details of the attachment more clearly.

Referring now more speciiicaily to the drawings wherein like parts aredesignated by the same numerals through- .out the various heures, ahandrolling gear measuring machine 1o to which an attachment 12embodying the principles' of this invention may be applied is shown bestin Fig.` 1. The machine iii includes a base 14 on which is mounted awork piece supporting carriage or arent slide 16 and a gear supportingslide 18. The carriage 16 is adapted to be moved along a dovetail guide20 and locked in any desired adjusted position by conventional means,not shown. A standard 22 is mounted on the carriage 16 and an arm 24 isvertically adjustably supported by the standard. Any suitable means,such as a mandrel 26, may be provided between the adjustable arm and ablock 2S on a slide 16 for rotatably supporting a work piece gear 30.Preferably, the gear is ixed to the mandrel and the mandrel is connectedto a knob 32 so that the gear may be manually rolled or rotated by theturning knob. The slide member 18 is mounted upon a block 34 by means ofball bearings, not shown, 1disposed within cooperating V grooves 36 and3S. he block 34 may be adjustably mounted on the base, if desired. Amandrel 4i] is carried by the slide 18 and, in turn, rotatably supportsa master gear 4Z. The master gear is spaced above the slide 18 by meansof a bearing block 44 and, if necessary, by a spacer 4r?.

A dial mechanism 48 is mounted to the end of the base ile'- forindicating any movement of the slide 18 toward or away from theworkpiece gear. The dial mechanism includes a spring biased plunger Si)operatively engageable with the slide 1S. It is understood that as thework piece and master gears are rolled together, any inaccuracies in thework piece gear will cause movement of the master gear and the slide i@toward or away from the work piece gear, which movement is indicated bythe dial mechanism While the structure and operation of the handroliinggear measuring machine it) have been somewhat brieliy set forth herein,this structure and operation is well known and need not be furtherdescribed.

in accordance with the present invention, the handrolliug gear measuringmachine 1t? may be converted into an automatic machine for permanentlyrecording the results of a gear measuring operation by applying theattachment ft2 to the measuring machine. The attachment 12 includes ahousing 52 which is adapted to be connected to the machine 1d. As shownbest in Fig. 2, the housing :E2 is provided with an elongated hollow armportion 5d having a groove 5o suitably formed to receive the dovetailguide 2i?. With this structure, the attachment may be easily appiied tothe machine 10 simpiy by removing the slide member or carriage 16 andsliding the attachment housing portion S4 over the end of the dovetailguide 2G. The carriage i6 is, of course, repiaccd and the housingportion S-/i is held in place between the carriage 16 and the block 34.

PEhe outer portion of the housing E2 includes a pair of spaced walls anda@ between which is disposed a bracket member 62 having arms and 65adapted to roil of paper Pfhe roll of paper may be the shaft "itt whichis adapted to t of the arms 64 and 66. The

.ft fo g the bracket to lower the paper roh f r reloading rEhe bracketis normally resiliently biased upwardly by a pair of springs 76 and 78respecivcly connected etween the arms 6ft and 66 and the rousing. Atable is horizontally disposed between the housing walls and ed and thepaper is passed over the tab-ic. An inliing pen 2 is disposed above thetable for recording the results of a testing or measuring operation onthe paper. This inking pen may be of any well known construction and isactuated by means indicated generally by the numeral The actuating meansincludes a resiliently biased plunger 86 which is operated in a mannermore fully described hereinbelow, and otherwise may be of any well knownconstruction and, therefore, need not be described in detail. A penlifting bar 88 is journaled between the walls 555 and 60 and may beoperated by avhandle 9.6 for lifting the pen when the the attachment isnot in use or for any other desired purpose.

In order to rotate the master and work piece gears and to feed therecording paper 68 automatically in timed relationship, motor means 92is secured to one side of the attachment housing. rlhis motor means mayinclude any conventional electric motor and speed-reducing gearingsoithat the output shaft 94 is continuously' driven at a relatively lowspeed. The output shaft 9d is connected through a slip clutch 96 to arotatably mounted shaftSS having paper driving rollers 100 and 102Vfixed thereon. A hand knob 1134 is secured to the shaft 93 so that thepaper may be advanced or retracted by hand before starting a vmeasuringoperation. T he master gear is also driven from the shaft 94 and this isaccomplished Vby operatively fixing a fine pitch sprocket 166 to thedrive shaft 9d and wrapping a chain 16S around the sprocket 196 and asecond sprocket 110 rotatably mount- Ved on a stub shaft 122. As shownbest in Fig. 4, the

stub shaft 112 is positioned on the housing attachment portion 54 sothat the sprocket il@ is located beneath the master gear. As shown bestin Fig. 3, the sprocket 116 is rotatably mounted on the stub shaft 112by means of a hub of a gear 1M. Suitable means such as a ke not shown,may be provided for preventing relative rotation between the-gear 114and the sprocket 110. The

. gear 114 meshes with the axially projecting teeth 116 of av gear orcrown rack 118 rotatably mounted on the mandrel 40 between the bearingblock 44 and the spacer 46. A flanged bearing member 19 secured to thebearing Yblock 44 by screws 121 is provided for restraining the gear 118against axial movement. TheY gear 118 is fixed to the master gear 42 byany suitable means such as pins 212i). With this structure, it is seenthat upon operation of the motor means 92, the master gear will berotated in. predetermined timed relationship with respect to the i i.rate of feeding movement'of the paper. The motor means v may becontrolled by any suitable means such as a toggle `switch 122.

`In order to operate the pen actuating means, a lever 124 is pivotallymounted within the attachment portion 54 of the housing by'means of ashaft 26. As shown o r imparted to the pen. l Y

A brief resum of the operation of the above described best in Figs. 2and 4, the lever has an armportion 123 disposed Vto engage an end of theslide i8 and a second plunger-S6. Thus, any movement of the slide 1Swill i betransferred to the plunger 86 through the lever.V Preferably,the pen actuating mechanism Sd isY such that any movement of the slidewill be greatly magnified and then apparatus is as follows. rTheattachment is, of course,

i .z firstmounted on the handrolling machine by sliding therelationship. A suppiy of paperrmust, of course, be provided and,asmentioned, the paper roll may be mounted by, swinglng 'the arms ofVthe paper supporting bracket downwardly and then inserting the shaft itiinto the notchv es provided in the ends of `the arms. The springs then 1pull the paper roll upwardly Vand into engagement with the friction feedrollers 19t) and N2. if desired, the paper may be swung downwardly fromthe feed rollers in order to permit Ythe paper to be adjusted over thetable 30 without interference from the feed rollers.

apparatus has beenset up' in the manner just described,l

After the v .the operator need onlyto actuate the toggle switch 122 toenergize the motor means 92 whereupon the master and work piece gearsare rotated in timed relationship with the feeding movement of thepaper.As will be unv.arm portion 13d disposed to engage the spring biasedderstood, any inaccuracies in the work piece gear causes the slide 1S tomove back and forth and this movement is magnified by the pen actuatingmeans 84 and traced by the pen upon the paper.

From the above description, it is seen that the present invention hasprovided a novel attachment for recording the results of a gear testingoperation, which attachment may be readily applied to handrolling gearmeasuring machines now in use. In addition,'it is seen that the novelattachment of this invention is of relativeiy si ie and compactconstruction for economical production and maintenance while at the sametime the attachment is capable of recording the results of a testingoperation accurately.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shownand described, it is obvious that many structural details may be changedwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claim-s.

The invention is claimed as follows:

l. A detachable recording attachment for a handrolling gear testingmachine having a base, slide member operatively supported on said base,a second member supported on said base, and means on said members forrotatably supporting a master gear and a work piece gear for meshingengagement, said slide member and the gear thereon being movablerelative to the other gear in accordance with any inaccuracies in theworkpiece gear, said recording attachment comprising support means, saidsupport means including a portion adapted to be positioned between saidmembers of a handrolling gear testing machine, said support meansportion having means for removable attachment to the base of ahandrolling gear testing machine, means for mounting a supply of paperon said support means, a marking instrument oarried by said supportmeans, means carried by said support means for engaging said slidemember and for actuating said Vmarking instrument to record results of agear testing operation on said paper, a drive gear carried Y bysaidslide member and rigidly connected with said gear rotatably carried bysaid slide member, and means mounted on said support means for drivingsaid master and work piece gears and for feeding said paper in timedrelationship, said last named means including a gear meshing with saiddrive gear in all positions of the slide member While a work piece isbeing checked. Y Y

2. A detachable recording attachment for a handrolling gear testingmachine having a base, a slide member supported on said base, a secondmember supported lon said base, and means on said members for rotatablysupporting a'master gear and a work piece gear for meshing engagement sothat said slide member and the gears thereon shift relative to the othergear in accordance with any inaccuracies in the work piece gear, saidre-V cording attachment comprising support means, said-support meanshaving a first portion adapted to be located laterally of the base of ahandrolling gear testing machine and a second portion adapted to bepositioned between said members of a handrolling gear testing machine,means for releasably attaching said support means to the base of ahandroliing gear testing machine, means for mounting a supply of paperon said first support means portion, a marking instrument carried bysaid first support means portion, means for actuating said markinginstrument to record results `of a Agear testing operation on saidpaper, motor means mounted on said first support means portion, rollermeans for feeding the paper,

7.a drive gear adapted to be rotatablyV mounted on said l gearsupporting means on said slide member and interconnected with Vsaidfirst mentioned gear on said slide member, gear means mountedon saidVsecond support means portionV for rotating said drive gear and therebyrotating said master and work piece gears,-endle'ss .chain meansoperatively interconnecting said motor means and said gear means, andmeans interconnecting said motor means yand said roller means, wherebysaid gear-means 2,780,008 5 5 and said roller means are driven in timedrelationship. References Cited in the file of this patent 3. Acombination as defined in 1,' wherein said UNITED STATS PATENTS and adriving member.

